Ashes,Ashes
by Beth D.M.R
Summary: Cinder is a spy sent on a mission she will do anything to accomplish, to catch the legendary assasin Snowe. Snowe is a reaper, as she likes to call herself, she has been living a dangerous life until a gaurded secret enters the light. In this alternate universe of fairytales seven characters embark on their own adventures entwined together by a single strand of fate.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 : Cinder and Snowe**

Cinder sat waiting adrenaline was slowly pumping through her veins making her spy instincts sharpen. She was creating a steady thirst to prove to Michelle, the commander of this operation and her stepmother, that she was a worthy spy, even as she was thinking this though doubt was spreading in her mind.

"Calm down" Cinder muttered to herself "everything will be fine" she abruptly stopped talking when she received a strange look from the driver of the limo.  
Taking a deep breath she attempted to calm her mind, going into a mission nervous and full of adrenaline was not a good combination. She would know, the first and only time she had gone on a mission was a year ago.

Let's just say it didn't look too good on her when the slightly phsycho, rich old lady she had supposed to have been protecting got wacked in the head with her own stuffed cat this of course had to be during the time Cinder was in the washroom. Long story short the old lady sued and Cinder got another year of spy training with kids a year younger than her. All she could say in her own defense was that she didn't make the old lady mental.

When Cinder had been offered a second chance to redeem herself, she had jumped at it, despite the fact that the mission was practically impossible. She had a feeling that Michelle had just sent her out on the field to get rid of Cinder's constant bugging for a second chance. A fresh blaze of determination rushed through Cinder at that annoying thought.

Taking a deep breath she went through the mission at hand all she had to do was waltz down the red carpet on the outside of the limo before entering the plaza and catching Snowe a legendary assassin, most likely of the female gender, attempting to murder a famous idol.

"Cinder are you ready?" her intercom, artistically hidden in her earing, crackled to life rudely interrupting her thoughts,

" Yeah I guess so" she replied to Michelle, her heart beat slowly speeding up.

"Good, you're stepping out in 3 ... 2... 1 ." Michelle replied without missing a beat. Cinder reflected on the annoying nasally sound, also known as Michelle's voice. Taking a final deep breath Cinder swung out of the plush car and into the blinding limelight of the entertainment world.  
"

My name is Celeste, rising radio pop star " Cinder ran through her identity for the night and thought of the irony with the fact that she couldn't even sing a single note without sounding like a dying horse. As she waltzed down the red carpet with her 4 inch diamond heels she admired their fake impracticality, for a moment, with the dozens of bulbs flashing around her the heels looked like glass. Soon she reached the doors of the giant dome building which swung open welcoming Cinder for the mission of her life.

The inside of the dome was beautiful, gorgeous crystal decorations combined with the sparkling clothes of the famous created a dizzying affect and lets not even mention the perfume.

But Cinder wasn't here for the scenery she was on a mission looking for the single person in this giant room with the intent to kill. Distracted Cinder ran into a solid object, quickly she looked up to meet gleaming hazel eyes filled with amusement.

Her first instinct was to glare, but quickly realized that unwanted attention would be brought towards this action and instead voted for blushing and looking towards the ground while stammering out an apology.

Her instincts were correct as she looked up between her lashes she saw an incredibly handsome boy whom judjing by his arrogant expression knew he was good looking. You could practically see the ego oozing out of him.  
The boy reached his hands out to steady her and flashed a 100 watt smile.

"Careful, wouldn't want to ruin that pretty face of yours" his voice sounded like a purring cat waiting to lure a mouse in.  
Cinder was getting slightly disgusted and after quickly uttering"thanks" she brushed past him, hurrying along.

Through the night she was on high alert, but as 11:30 rolled past she questioned the actuality of Snowe making an appearance. By 11:50 she was close to giving up.

"One more round" Cinder decided, "and then I'll figure out a different game plan"  
As she walked through the crowds of celebrities she finally saw it, a flash of metal like silver. Cinder with quick turn targeted the petite figure that held the deadly weapon.

Carefully she shadowed the blonde until the girl stopped and with a quick flash, threw the knife.  
Cinder's carefully attuned reflexes took ahold and without thinking she ran ,only once a long time ago had she ever run like this, but just as well a life was at risk and she would NOT fail again.

When she was in reach of the knife she swiftly reached out and grabbed it despite the sudden intense pain she looked back.

She was only able to see a cold pair of gray eyes before the world exploded in fire.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 : Cheshire**

She was impatient. Time was ticking soon the officials would be here and she would not be caught whether he came or not.

"Now my dear, what's made you this impatient?" a voice purred.

She quickly spun around to see the 100 watt smile of Cheshire. He was a tall lean boy with supreme balance and able to slink into the shadows at will. The sole person who could sneak up on her, he also just so happened to be her partner in the assassination business.

"Finally" she hissed "there was an agent at that party we have to go!"

She could still remember as her beautiful clean blade left her hand if not for that girl it would have cleanly found its mark. She was furious with both the girl and herself, this was the first time her blade had not found it's mark her legend was already cracking, if she was caught it would shatter. Cheshire looked at her lazily while pulling out his hazel contacts to reveal his luminescent, plum colored eyes. She glared at him as he slowly put in new pale blue contacts. When he was done he raised an eyebrow at her, smirking.

"Ahh darling I saw that. Snowe's legend of blades will now be tainted." his tone was annoyingly sing-song like.

"Quit talking" she hissed while gesturing at the burning dome a few hundred feet in front of them. "We have to go!" She was getting annoyed with his slow antics.

"Might I remind you dear that the only reason you got out of their alive was because i pulled the gas on the buffet table? Without me you would have been caught by now. You're legacy would have ended and they would have found out who you really are." the boy purred

"Fine, thank you very much for not having me murdered" She hissed at him, almost flinching when he mentioned her secret. Why oh why out of everyone in this entire world, did she tell her most guarded piece of information to probably the most untrustworthy person possible?

"Because you just love me my dear" With a final smirk the boy jumped from the brick wall they had been currently residing in and slinked into the shadows of night.

Snowe took a deep breath, sighing exasperatedly she always accidentally thought out loud when stressed. Swiftly she swung her blonde wig from her head before dropping it in a bag that hung from her back. After removing her contacts she quickly followed her companion into the inky darkness of night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Red**

What could she say, honestly life isn't fair.

That was her first reaction when she was called to hunt down a pack of werewolves that had stolen Little Bo Peeps sheep. It was a downright refusal on Red's part and it worsened when the short skirted woman herself came to beg for her help.

Now before you go making random accusations about Red's character I will first tell you that if Red herself was given a choice to save herself from death or another person it would be herself, several times over. That would be the case of course unless the other person was her grandmother, but that wouldn't be because her grandmother was dead.

When Little Bo Peep came to Red's house the girl had nervously tugged her skirt down before pulling of a confident smirk. She had heard rumours about this particular werewolf hunter and they were not promising, but Beatrice (no parent in their right mind would name their daughter Little Bo Peep) was determined to get her sheep back.

She didn't need them of course because her parents were quite rich, but the sheep supported her innocent girl act. Beatrice had walked to the small cottage with her thin heels and knocked on the blood red door with manicured nails. She waited impatiently for what seemed like hours before the door was briskly pulled open and a thin silver blade was pressed to her throat.

After a few moments Red had pulled the blade from the girl and critically assessed her.

From the fabric of her clothes to the pasted ruby coloured lips Red could tell that this girl was rich and her sheep was not attacked by werewolves, nor was the girl afraid for her sheep. She was to unfazed by their probable death, or maybe the girl was an idiot.

Red considered both options before concluding that they were both true.

The girl was rich, Red could tell and without a second though Red spoke in a clear voice  
"Tell your rich parents to buy you a replacement number of sheeps" before slamming the door shut.

She briskly cleaned her knife and grabbed the single pack in the middle of a now empty room. Red had stayed here for a day as a resting spot before catching the tracks of her pray. The werewolf pack was close and this time after 3 years of chasing she would definitely kill them.

The hunt was on and fresher than ever.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Fee Stadt**

Cinder could feel her feet burning. Go, Go, Run.

Was all her mind could comprehend. All she needed to do was catch that Snowe she couldn't be that far behind…could she?. Cinder couldn't believe she had let that girl slip through her fingertips, Cinder's hand clenched at the thought. As she ran she realized how heavy her limbs were becoming, even if she had the most stamina out of all the spies she knew, sprinting for 5 hours was bound to take a toll eventually.

Now you might be wondering how we got to this point, Cinder madly running across the country on a frantic chase to find a single person in millions, but I'll spare you the gritty details (like the amount of sweat she had produced had soaked through her clothes or the way she smelled at the moment would make a giant faint in disgust) After the fire exploded the dome Cinder had immediately rushed after Snowe. There was absolutely no way she was returning to base without completing her mission, the humiliation would be the worst thing she ever encountered. So without a second thought she had taken off like a mad woman sprinting after the assassin.

There were of course a number of factors she wasn't considering, one particularly important question she never asked was in which particular direction Snowe was heading too. Now my dear readers you can begin to understand why Cinder wasn't that great of a spy, certainly her technique and talent was the best out of the best, but her constant allowance for emotions to interrupt her job caused her to make reckless decisions, making her quite a low option to choose for missions such as this one.

Cinder fingered Snowe's blade as she ran. It was her only clue towards finding Snowe. The blade was beautiful silver carved with intricate symbols in multiple tongues Cinder needed to find answers and the only place she could find them was in Fee Stadt.

After another hour of running she finally reached "Fee Stadt" the capitol city of "Märchenland". She entered the city just as the first few rays of dawn touched on its glass towers and admired the sight. It seemed almost as if gold fairy dust was sprinkled upon the city, hence the name "Fee Stadt" which literally meant fairy city because it was the first place the sun's golden rays touched in "Märchenland".

It was peaceful as she walked down the white marble street; nobody was out at this time in the morning. She was exhausted, but had no money, so no food or rest it was, much less finding out where the blade was crafted.  
"I know right, brilliant planning on my part." She thought to herself sarcastically.

As she calmed down she realized what an idiot she had been to randomly take of running in whatever direction, instead of waiting for her next move from Michelle. She couldn't go back to the base now though that would mean admitting defeat and she was not a loser. Carefully Cinder thought out a plan with her tired brain, there was only one person in this city who she knew  
( she wasn't really a social creature, preferring to blend into the background) and let's just say that she would have killed herself rather than being alone in the same room as him, but desperate circumstances called for desperate measures.

Cinder walked past the beautiful skyscrapers of the fairy city until she reached the outskirts of town, just as the sun began to hit midday. If she was exhausted before her walk, there were no words to compare what she was feeling now.

Thankfully there was a well close to the place she had to be, Cinder made her way to the water before drawing a cup and gulping it down as if it was manna.

Before the city was made this whole land use to be giant plains of rolling hills filled with wells drawn from the mountain, Fee Berg, the water was so fresh the locals said that the mountain was blessed by the fairies.

When Cinder finished drinking, she sat at the edge of the well and just as the sun reached its peak she whistled a four tone note before continuing to wait while gently sipping water.

Finally as one o'clock was about to roll past she heard his smooth voice say sarcastically  
"and what's brought my _**most**_ favourite companion to seek my presence?"

With her quick reflexes she turned around and shoved Snowe's silver knife to the neck of the green eyed boy known as, Pan.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Pan**

His eyes were probably the lightest green you woul ever see almost yellow, but not quite there. As for appearances the only word you could use to describe him was beautiful. His skin was clear of wrinkles or any blemishes of teen hood and his entire form was slim and clear. Pretty much the exact same as when she had first seen him first at the age of seven.

He looked like a child of spring as hard as that is too believe with the scowl on his face and a stream of ancient curse words spouting from his lips.

From her spy training in languages Cinder could have told you that half of those languages dated back to around 50000 years ago and 75% weren't even spoken on this planet anymore. Cinder detected the words of her mother being born from a pig's butt.

"Nice to see you too Pan" Cinder spoke with venom pressing the blade closer to his neck. "Now I have a proposition for you and I suggest not trying anything tricky or else this will be imbedded into your neck." She said gesturing at the blade.

Pan let out a series of more swear words before he uttered an agreement. Cautiously Cinder lowered the blade smirking in triumph and followed after his retreating figure. On impulse she yelled to him.

"And just for the record my mother was not in fact born from a pig's butt." She nearly burst out laughing when the thousand year old boy started stomping his foot in frustration.

5 hours, 3 fist fights and an uncountable number of just plain fights later everything was ready. Cinder stood as far away from Pan as possible as she surveyed the truck that would bring her to Snowe.

It was one of the modernized version with a sleek automatically camouflaged exterior and an interior made for comfort as well as battle. Cinder was infinitely happy with her deal at least she would be if she wasn't being accompanied by Pan, to insure that she wouldn't abduct his "baby" and one of Pan's street rats a girl around Cinder's age named Wendy who was gifted in mechanics.

Speaking of Cinder glanced around the truck to see the two happily chatting with each other. Cinder eyed Wendy suspiciously, as much as she hated Pan she trusted him more than this girl. It was just something about her fine perfectly spun gold hair, brilliant blue eyes and pristine manners that made Cinder have this weird feeling that she just couldn't place her finger on.

As she watched Wendy and Pan talking with each other happily, wide smiles touching their faces, a disgusting feeling began to coil in her stomach and only magnified when she saw the star struck look in Pan's eyes.

Suddenly Pan's eyes lifted from Wendy's to stare into Cinder's. Cinder felt a jolt as if electricity was running through her veins until she saw the annoyed look on Pan's face, Cinder felt as if her heart was falling to her toes before feeling an intense amount of embarrassment, quickly before Cinder could blush she covered it up with one of her brute sarcastic comments.

"Hey Pan want to cook me some fried eggs? I'm starved. Bacon on the side with a touch a pepper, black preferred. Oh and those thinly fried, sliced potatoes would be great as well." She watched as a scowl traced Pan's porcelain face and he let out another long string of curses.

"Tut, tut" Cinder muttered "Children's ears are quite delicate" she said glancing pointedly at Wendy.

"Well that wasn't very nice" a dignified voice with a weird, very posh accent sounded through the room. Cinder looked at Wendy with a raised eyebrow "did you really just say that I wasn't being very nice?"

Wendy looked at Cinder with a slightly raised chin before saying quite clearly  
"yes".  
Cinder couldn't help it she burst out laughing.  
"I am not a child" Wendy said "at the age of sixteen I am quite positive that my maturity far surpasses the likes of you" Wendy finished with a wrinkle of her nose as she surveyed the older girl dying of laughter on the floor.

Cinder looked appraisingly at Pan who looked unsure of whether to laugh or become furious with Cinder this led to him looking, well, constipated. This made Cinder's laughter increase by the tenfold as she tried to convey her question  
"Where…In…the…world…did …you…pick…this…one…up?" she managed to gasp out.

Pan looked at Cinder weirdly before she felt an audible snap as the temperature in the room dropped by around 100 degrees. Cinder sent a glance at Wendy whose blue eyes had taken on a dark chill "How dare you laugh at me." She yelled.

"Hold your horses Wendy the Mender we don't want the "baby" to get destroyed" Cinder said still in fits of laughter until all of a sudden a wrench flew towards her head. With a quick spin Cinder jumped from off the floor and performed a perfectly executed midair somersault, grabbing the wrench and swinging it as if it was an arrow.

The wrench flew true, just grazing the side of Wendy's face and yanking out a few tendrils of hair. Wendy stayed completely immobilized as she watched Cinder land on the balls of her feet before falling backwards.

"Are you kidding me Pan?" she said gesturing at the lack of heel on her glass shoe. That was the price of this expensive expedition, a single pure diamond heel. Pan grinned as he threw her a rucksack  
"you'll find clothes and food".

Quickly he helped Wendy to the truck before entering. Cinder glanced at the sack in her hand before throwing it over her shoulder and following the couple. One of her suspicions was confirmed though, a normal street rat would not be able to throw with the pristine form of a professionally trained aristocrat.

In conclusion Wendy was a fake.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: The Beast**

Snowe stood stock- still as the wolves surrounded her.

She stole a glance to Cheshire to find that his post next to her was completely empty. She silently cursed his name. Usually when she was in these kind of situations a simple throw of knives would have created a decent enough distraction to run, but of course this wouldn't work during **this** situation because number one wolves shouldn't be an average of 12 feet high with lightning quick reflexes and number two … well these giant beasts were acquaintances of Cheshire and right now Snowe was so desperate she would take any help she could grasp.

The chase had begun and for the first time in her life Snowe was not the predator, in fact she was the prey. There was just something about the girl at the dome, who she found was named Cinder, which put Snowe on edge. By some weird feeling she knew that this Cinder would not stop until her mission to catch Snowe was accomplished and if Snowe was caught… she shivered at the thought, not even Cheshire knew of this secret and she was determined to keep it that way, never touching the light.

This desperate emotion had made Snowe stressed until Cheshire had suggested some sort of backup, Snowe was expecting an army, after all it was Cheshire, but these beasts scared her to no end partly because she couldn't easily kill them. Snowe took a deep calming breath, something her father had taught her to do.

Finally the wolf pack stopped inspecting her for weapons and receded backwards until all that was left was a sole, giant, pure white wolf. The wolf's blue, gold speckled eyes stared at Snowe with such intensity that Snowe felt the air around her charge.

All of a sudden a shift happened in the beast, his pure white fur rippled as underneath his coat a number of bumps accumulated, shifting with each other, there were a number of cracks that filled the air as the animal began to shrink, it's fur turning brown and black until it became a man with brilliant blue eyes and dark brown hair.

Snowe felt her breath catch as she stared into his eyes, lost she felt as if she had been lost in this world until she looked into those eyes.

Suddenly she snapped herself awake, what in the world was she doing. Her assassin training kicked in as she unsheathed a blade and lightly leaped onto a tree branch just a few feet off the ground. She carefully watched the werewolves move away from the silver as if it was an open flame,  
"Which might I add" she thought "would also kill them".

Snowe was careful to keep away from the eyes of the alpha wolf she couldn't risk sinking into them again. The pack below her growled as they began to encircle the tree, until the alpha wolf held up a hand, he was still staring at her.

Then he spoke in a deliciously clean voice "She's my mate."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Blood**

Red was checking the ground when the first droplets of rain hit the earth.

She started swearing viciously at the sky. Why out of every 356 days did it have to rain today? She was so close, so close to eliminating the wolf, but no the sky had to start pouring it's heart out at this very moment. Her hunt was going to run into a dead end once again just because of a few drops of rain.

"No it won't" Red thought to herself.  
There was only one thing she could resort to now and would have been ridiculously preposterous in any other situation except for this one. After two years her sworn enemy was no more than a mere three hours from where she was residing. Red had to think fast before the rain began a heavy downpour and masked her scent.

She quickly unsheathed her sword, Ardens, and carefully brought in down toward the center of her palm, grabbing a small bowl from her bag she placed it under her hand before cutting deeply. The blood soon started to flow and Red watched as it red touched brown. When she began to feel dizzy she grabbed a strip of gauze from her pack and firmly wrapped it around her palm.

The rain had started to become a heavy drizzle, quickly Red grabbed a number of dry branches underneath the trees and with her expert skills she quickly made a fire despite the rain. Slowly the smoke began to steam the clearing. Red knew that this smoke could be seen from at least 500 acres away in any direction, but there was only one thing that she could do to bring **them** directly to her, she quickly poured the blood soaked bowl into the center of the fire.

If this was normal blood the fire would have been extinguished long ago, but there was a reason Red had quicker reflexes than a normal person, a reason that she could tell you precisely what she did 2555 moons ago when the sun was at precisely 46 degrees in the sky. You see Red wasn't a prodigy at all she just wasn't completely human. Her mother was, most certainly, but Red's father was well…complicated.

But Red knew that there was something in her blood that tempted these wolves like no other, made her irresistible even, because they, like her, weren't human.

For a moment the girl watched as the red smoke filtered into the air spreading her scent for acres, the creatures would kill to get a taste of this smell, but what they wouldn't know is that she would be the only one doing the killing tonight. Red lithely jumped onto a tree just to the right of the clearing, she smoothly climbed until the foliage beneath her was thick enough that no one would be able to see her from below.

Feeling a wave of dizziness from lack of blood wash over her again, Red grabbed a bag from her pack, filled with nuts, berries and yogurt chips, she slowly began to eat it all, she would need the energy. So she sat there leaning against the trunk of the tree and waiting as the rain became torrential, before filtering back to a dry drizzle, all the while her fire burned brightly red because of her enchanted blood, until she felt it, the shift in the air.

Red held her breath as she looked down just to the east of the clearing to see hundreds of luminescent eyes. She watched until she cornered the blue and gold ones that she would recognise anywhere. The eyes of a murderer.

Red unsheathed Ardens before letting out a gleaming smile. Now she was hungry, for blood.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The Story Teller

I stood watching the coloured quills with vibrant colours turn around the acres of parchment spread around me.

The brightly coloured quills turned around elegantly moved by invisible forces. I stood then as I saw a quill with what use to be a brightly coloured plume fade into a dark grey almost black. Carefully I walked around the map of parchment careful not to interrupt anyone's tales.

Eventually I made my way to the dying quill and just as it began to droop I lowered my hand and summoned the essence inside the quill. Slowly it's spirit rose in the form of a deep purple mist full of the brilliant gold lights called memories. Carefully I reached into my pocket bringing out a slender vial where I collected the gold sparks leaving just a few that in this person's next story she would judge these re-lived experiences as de ja vu.

Finally after I had collected the memories and taken away the woman's ages her quill became small again and brilliantly white. Smiling I carefully places the vial in my pocket before releasing the white quill, the forces took a hold of it, soon a woman's story would be interrupted by a baby.

Satisfied I returned back to my seat on the smooth, white, wooden floor. This was my favourite part, watching the stories unfold.

There was one particular story that had intrigued me, of course it was mostly up to my judgment how a story or stories turned out, but it wasn't like the characters had no choice at all, they did it was just limited by me. I settled down watching as the seven quills turned around the parchment, slowly drawing closer together.

These quills were coloured more brilliantly than any of the other's on the board, the more brilliant the colours the bigger their impact would be on the world. I hadn't seen such bright quills in ages possibly a century in their years, much goes without saying having them all neatly assembled like this nearly blinded me, merely an expression that is since I can't be blinded.

I slowly watched as the white and black plume, intertwined with a silver strand that implied the love bond, quickly traveled across the country heading towards the red quill. I stared at the red for a second, slightly darker than blood, it showed a touch of her dark heritage, she was an interesting one, this red character. I smiled at myself due to the pun, in this story they **would **call her Red.

Curious I peaked down to the base of the feather where inscribed in teensy gold letters was the most guarded secret of everyone in the universe where they lived in. "Names" is what it would be called.

I mused for a moment wondering what **my **name had been, before giving up, it was way too long ago to remember what they called me now was the most important, the "Story Teller" was my title.

I watched as just a little ways behind the white and black quills I saw a clear almost glass-like blue colour, it was very uncommon, accompanied by a spring green quill that held the shimmer of an immortal, they held so many memories that it altered their colours. I watched amused as a dull blue coloured quill hovered around the two, this blue quill held no interest to me, it would be eliminated soon enough, it's plume was already turning grey. It amused me though because of the silver wrapped around the three plumes.

Now their were only two left to play, one had already touched this parchment the most mysterious characters, he held a tall and slender quill with a plume the colour of a shimmering violet. This quill hovered around the edges of the black and white plumes. I smiled as insignificant as it would seem now his plume was already becoming more vibrant.

I smiled now it was my turn . Gently I moved my hand to the edge of the parchment where one of my most interesting creations was chasing after the glass- like quill. I'ts navy blue plume held the edges of a silver.

"Soon" I thought.


End file.
